How to give the best presentation

of your life!

Your body language will have a huge impact on your presentation. The way you look and present yourself will affect the way you come across to your audience.

What you are feeling on the inside will be communicated on the outside. If you just want to get it over and done with you will communicate that to your audience. So it’s up to you whether you come across as a jibbering wreck right from the start or whether you exude poise and confidence.

The secret to making the perfect wedding speech is confidence.

So how do you find that confidence?

Read on……

First impressions
People make decisions about you in the first 15-20 seconds of meeting you. I’m sure you have heard of the expression you never get a second chance to create a first impression. Well it’s true. Which means it is very important that you create the right first impression as soon as you stand up to give your speech.

At a wedding you will know many of the people in the room and they will know you. There will also be a number of people that have never met you before. But they all have one thing in common and that’s the fact that they want to be entertained for the next few minutes and they want to see you succeed.

So right from the start you want to come across as confident, relaxed, and sincere. You want your audience to sit up and take notice. You want to be engaging and compelling - whet their appetites immediately.

Your first impression when you give your speech presentation is to wow them with your personal presence which radiates confidence, charisma and power.

And how do you do this?

In three easy steps…

Posture, Breathing, Gestures

Your posture affects your breathing and the quality of your voice.

Your voice is carried on your breath.

Breathing exercises and proper posture increase your lung capacity which increases the power of your voice.

Actors and singers really understand that when giving a presentation the whole body is required to maximise your voice. They are aware of how the breath moves over the vocal chords and the importance of breathing techniques to control the voice.

Your voice is an expression of your energy. When you are sitting down you are not breathing properly. If we lead a sedentary lifestyle sitting at a desk all day, staring at a computer or spend hours watching television our breathing becomes shallow.

If your body has a full breath, therefore full lungs we can speak with a lot of energy.

That’s what makes you attractive. That’s what draws your audience to you.

So stand up straight. Feet hip width apart. When nerves start to get the better of you drop your shoulders. We tend to hold a lot of tension in our shoulders which then affects our breathing. If you are not breathing properly your voice will sound high pitched.

Take a deep breath in through your nose and allow your body to relax. This will help you to stop feeling self-consciousness. Do not use alcohol – it will only make you feel worse and stop you thinking clearly. Your clarity of thinking and composure will come from exercise and practice, not alcohol!

Gestures

When giving a presentation use gestures to connect with your audience. These will have a big effect on your energy levels. Your energy will create a personal presence – charisma, power, authority. Charisma is created by your energy.

If you stand rigid with your hands stuck down by your side you will not look natural. If you are not moving you are not connecting with people around you. Even when you are on the telephone you will naturally use gestures. That’s because your gestures are connected to what you are saying. Gestures are a useful tool for describing what you are saying. They create interest.

When you are relaxed then your gestures come naturally. The best thing to do is to video yourself to become really familiar with your natural gestures. If your gestures look nervous, fidgeting or distracting you will want to change these.

And the most important gesture of all is to SMILE!

Did you know that you have over 30 muscles in your face? When you smile you are using over half of these muscles and people respond to that. Smiling helps people to relax and feel comfortable in your presence. It creates a positive energy.

A smile can change someone's appearance in an instant. Smiling immediately puts other people at ease and makes you more attractive.

Whatever else you do - remember to smile – this is after all a very, happy occasion!

Follow these simple guidelines and your speech presentation will have an amazing impact on your audience. By using your posture, breathing and gestures you will increase your energy levels and improve your confidence. .

And finally…..

You get what you focus on. So decide you will do well and you will.

Give 100%. Do your best. Give it your all.

Enjoy it. If you look like you are enjoying it and having fun then that transmits to the audience. That energy makes you look very attractive indeed.

Return from Presentation to Delivering a Speech

Return from Presentation to Wedding Speeches